is being deaf a hereditairy thing?

C

cambell

New Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
my girlfriend seems to think that if she has children that they are most likely going to have hearing problems. she believes that her hearing issues is a mental thing rather than a problem with her ears. i really have no idea as to what causes it but i just allways seem to think it was something with the ears them selves, until she brought this up. is there one answer or is a case by case situation?
 
SOME causes of deafness are genetic, many aren't. This is something to chat with your doctor or a genetic counselor about.
 
I agree that not all cases of deafness are hereditairy. I know my children will not inherit my deafness, because I did not inherit my deafness. So, if your girlfriend's family passes on a deaf gene, she will pass it on, but there is no real guarantee that her children will be deaf, it's very possible they could inherit the gene and pass it on without becoming deaf themselves. If she became deaf from other means, IE illness or parental illness while pregnant, then she won't pass on the deafness to her children.
 
BearBeauty said:
I agree that not all cases of deafness are hereditairy. I know my children will not inherit my deafness, because I did not inherit my deafness. So, if your girlfriend's family passes on a deaf gene, she will pass it on, but there is no real guarantee that her children will be deaf, it's very possible they could inherit the gene and pass it on without becoming deaf themselves. If she became deaf from other means, IE illness or parental illness while pregnant, then she won't pass on the deafness to her children.
Click to expand...

I agree with you.... deafness runs in my family.... my parents were deaf... most of them were born HOH... it is hereditary....
 
BearBeauty said:
I agree that not all cases of deafness are hereditairy. I know my children will not inherit my deafness, because I did not inherit my deafness. So, if your girlfriend's family passes on a deaf gene, she will pass it on, but there is no real guarantee that her children will be deaf, it's very possible they could inherit the gene and pass it on without becoming deaf themselves. If she became deaf from other means, IE illness or parental illness while pregnant, then she won't pass on the deafness to her children.
Click to expand...

**nodding agreement** In fact, most cases of deafness are not genetic in nature.
 
Sounds like your girlfriend is contradicting herself.

First, she says that she thinks her kids will be deaf.

Next, she says that her hearing problem is mental.

Either she thinks that mental is genetic or she got it all wrong.

If you're deaf because you think you're deaf, then that doesn't mean that your kids will be born thinking they're deaf too.

Being born deaf usually depends on the deaf status of the parents.

Take me for example: I was born hearing, but became deaf due to a common childhood sickness that got worse due to neglect. If I had a kid with a woman who was hearing, then it's very likely that my kid would be born hearing cuz we're both technically hearing. However, if this woman was deaf due to genetics... then the chance of our kid being born deaf would probably be 50/50.
 
I've never in my life heard of deafness caused by "mental issues." Someone please enlighten me if I am ignorant about this.

Only 10% of deaf people inherited their deafness from their parent(s), according to the common statistic.
 
Mental issues???? :eek3:

That is new to me.

My deafness is a result of family gene. I have 50 50 chance of having a deaf child. But then again, it can skip generations and pop up out of nowhere along the family line.
 
Interpretrator said:
I've never in my life heard of deafness caused by "mental issues." Someone please enlighten me if I am ignorant about this.

Only 10% of deaf people inherited their deafness from their parent(s), according to the common statistic.
Click to expand...

Yes, there have been a few documented cases of trauma that has manifested as deafness. They're known as somataform disorders. Mental and emotional trauma is manifested as a physical complaint such as deafness, blindness, paralysis, etc. The diagnosis is pretty rare, though.
 
I have heard of mental issues that caused physical and illness difficulties. I forgot the name of it. But it does exist. Person in reality may be able to hear but for some reason brain acts like that person is deaf. That types of thing just means that person probably need some medicine and counseling. I think phantom deafness is rarer than person thinking something's wrong with his body or being in pain for no reason.
 
maybe i didnt explain this right. she thinks its a problem in her brain rather than with her ears. i dont mean that she only thinks she cant hear, she cant. honestly im not totally sure what she meant thats the way i interpreted it. btw her parents can hear and she failed her first hearing test when she was three. either way its not really significant and im not worried but she keeps mentioning it when we talk about kids and i just thought she was playing around. i never realised it could be hereditairy. thnx guys
 
Silentwolfdog said:
I have heard of mental issues that caused physical and illness difficulties. I forgot the name of it. But it does exist. Person in reality may be able to hear but for some reason brain acts like that person is deaf. That types of thing just means that person probably need some medicine and counseling. I think phantom deafness is rarer than person thinking something's wrong with his body or being in pain for no reason.
Click to expand...

Yeah, during Freud's time these were called hysterical illnesses. Now they are known as somataform disorders.
 
cambell said:
maybe i didnt explain this right. she thinks its a problem in her brain rather than with her ears. i dont mean that she only thinks she cant hear, she cant. honestly im not totally sure what she meant thats the way i interpreted it. btw her parents can hear and she failed her first hearing test when she was three. either way its not really significant and im not worried but she keeps mentioning it when we talk about kids and i just thought she was playing around. i never realised it could be hereditairy. thnx guys
Click to expand...

Please consult a doctor. If her parents are hearing, there is a good chance that her deafness is not genetic, and therefore, will not be passed on to her children. And even if it is genetic, most inherited deafness is caused by a recessive gene trait, which means that both parents would have to carry the gene for the children to inherit it.
 
know my children will not inherit my deafness, because I did not inherit my deafness. So, if your girlfriend's family passes on a deaf gene, she will pass it on, but there is no real guarantee that her children will be deaf,
Click to expand...
Um not quite. You can have something called a denovo genetic mutation, where you didn't inheiret it, but you can pass it on.
 
cambell said:
maybe i didnt explain this right. she thinks its a problem in her brain rather than with her ears. i dont mean that she only thinks she cant hear, she cant. honestly im not totally sure what she meant thats the way i interpreted it. btw her parents can hear and she failed her first hearing test when she was three. either way its not really significant and im not worried but she keeps mentioning it when we talk about kids and i just thought she was playing around. i never realised it could be hereditairy. thnx guys
Click to expand...

Could it be auditory neuropathy in her case? This is when the outer ear equipment is okay but the part of the hearing nerve system that communicates with the brain is not working correctly, hence the brain cannot interpret the sound that she hears.

I have hereditary deafness. There is a 50% chance of passing my condition but a 20% chance of deafness itself. My daughter doesn't have my condition.
 
Interpretrator said:
I've never in my life heard of deafness caused by "mental issues." Someone please enlighten me if I am ignorant about this.
Click to expand...

Etiologies and Causes of Deafness

Functional hearing loss

Also known as psychogenic hearing loss or hysterical hearing loss. Deafness that results from psychological or emotional factors, rather than from physical causes. Hearing is actually present, but the brain's recognition of it is psychologically blocked. Often caused by anxiety over emotional conflicts, and is involuntary; can be either partial or total. Diagnosis is sometimes complicated by the presence of a real physical hearing loss, either "overlaid" by the functional loss or in one ear while the other ear has the functional loss (unilateral functional deafness). EDHD2 p.85.
 
R2D2 said:
Could it be auditory neuropathy in her case? This is when the outer ear equipment is okay but the part of the hearing nerve system that communicates with the brain is not working correctly, hence the brain cannot interpret the sound that she hears.

I have hereditary deafness. There is a 50% chance of passing my condition but a 20% chance of deafness itself. My daughter doesn't have my condition.
Click to expand...

I am thinking the same thing..that it is auditory neuropathy. I dont know if that can be hereditary.

I am the same as R2DS..I have herediary deafness even though I was the very first known person in both my parents' sides in history to be born with deafness. It was confirmed that it was hereditary when my brother was born deaf too. I have 2 kids...one is hearing and the other may have a very mild hearing loss but I am sure they have the deaf gene so they could have deaf children themselves.
 
well id deaf hereditary? u relooking at a guy who have 30 genertations of deafness hehe
 
cambell said:
maybe i didnt explain this right. she thinks its a problem in her brain rather than with her ears.
Click to expand...

I completely misunderstood you earlier. Yes, I guess it could be somatoform in that case. I did think you meant she only thought she couldn't hear.

Why hasn't she been to a doctor if she's concerned?
 
Back
Top